Method and computer-readable medium for navigating between attachments to electronic mail messages

ABSTRACT

A method and computer-readable medium are provided for navigation between attachments to electronic mail messages. According to the method, a list of e-mail messages is displayed that includes header information associated with each of the messages. When one of the messages in the list is selected, a determination is made as to whether the selected message has attachments. If the selected message has attachments, an identifier is displayed adjacent to the header information for each attachment. The identifier indicates that the attachment is associated with the selected message and may provide other information such as the type and size of the attachment. The identifiers are displayed in a manner to indicate clearly to a user that the attachments are associated with the selected e-mail message. The identifiers may be selected to preview the corresponding attachment.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/993,950 titled “Method and Computer-Readable Medium forNavigating Between Attachments to Electronic Mail Messages” which wasfiled on Nov. 19, 2004 and which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,647,559 onJan. 12, 2010 and which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/955,361 titled “Method and Computer-ReadableMedium for Previewing and Performing Actions on Attachments toElectronic Mail Messages” which was filed on Sep. 30, 2004 and whichissued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,243,298 on Jul. 10, 2007. These applicationsare expressly incorporated herein by reference. This patent applicationis also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/954,328 titled“Method, System, and Apparatus for Providing A Document Preview” whichwas filed on Sep. 30, 2004 and which is also expressly incorporatedherein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Users of electronic mail (“e-mail”) client application programs arecommonly frustrated by the number of steps that must be taken by a userto view the contents of a document that has been attached to an e-mailmessage. In many cases, a user only wants to see a preview of theattachment. A preview is a read-only rendering of a document that mimicswhat a user would have seen if the document was opened with anapplication program associated with the document. However, in thetypical case, the user is required to select the attachment and thenlaunch the application program associated with the attachment to viewits contents.

When this traditional process for viewing the contents of an e-mailattachment is performed, the user is required to change applicationcontexts between the e-mail client application and the applicationutilized to view the attachment. When the user has finished viewing theattachment, the user must again switch application contexts by closingthe application program and returning to the e-mail client application.Switching application contexts in this manner to view a preview of ane-mail attachment can be both time consuming and frustrating for a user.

Because prior application programs have not provided a mechanism forallowing users to view the contents of an e-mail attachment withoutswitching application contexts, these application programs have also notprovided a convenient mechanism to navigate among the attachments to ane-mail message. In particular, these application programs have notprovided a user interface mechanism through which a user can easily viewthe available attachments to an e-mail message and select one of theattachments for previewing.

It is with respect to these considerations and others that the variousembodiments of the present invention have been made.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, the aboveand other problems are solved by a method and computer-readable mediumfor navigating between attachments to electronic mail messages. Thevarious embodiments of the invention allow a user to quickly identifyand select an attachment to an electronic mail message from any numberof attachments. The embodiments of the invention also allow a user toquickly preview the contents of e-mail attachments without switchingapplication contexts.

According to one embodiment of the invention, a method is provided fornavigating between attachments to e-mail messages. According to themethod, a list of e-mail messages is displayed that includes headerinformation associated with each of the messages. For instance, the listmay include header information that identifies a sender of each e-mailmessage, a subject for each e-mail message, and a received time for eache-mail message. Other information may also be displayed. When one of themessages in the list is selected, a determination is made as to whetherthe selected message has attachments. If the selected message hasattachments, an identifier is displayed adjacent to the headerinformation for each attachment. The identifier indicates that theattachment is associated with the selected message and may provide otherinformation such as the type and size of the attachment. The identifiersare displayed in a manner to indicate clearly to a user that theattachments are associated with the selected e-mail message.

According to other embodiments of the invention, one of the identifierscorresponding to an attachment may be selected. In response to such aselection, the selected e-mail message is deselected and a preview isgenerated and displayed for the attachment corresponding to the selectedidentifier. If another identifier corresponding to another attachment isselected, a preview is then generated and displayed for that attachment.If another e-mail messages in the list is selected, identifiers for thefirst selected e-mail message are removed and any identifiers for thenewly selected e-mail message are displayed.

According to another embodiment of the invention, a selection may bereceived of one of the e-mail messages in the list. A request may alsobe received to open the selected message for viewing. This may occur,for instance, through a double mouse click of an e-mail message in thelist. In response to such a request, the selected e-mail message isopened for viewing and the contents of the selected mail message aredisplayed. A user interface is also displayed for navigating betweenattachments to the displayed e-mail message. The user interface includesan identifier for each of the attachments to the selected message andmay be displayed adjacent to the display of the contents of the selectedmail message.

According to other embodiments, a selection may be received of one ofthe identifiers within the user interface for navigating betweenattachments. In response to such a selection, a preview is generated forthe attachment corresponding to the selected identifier and the previewis displayed. The preview may be displayed adjacent to the display ofthe contents of the selected mail message. In this manner, a user mayeasily view both the contents of the selected e-mail message and thepreview of the selected attachment.

The invention may be implemented as a computer process, a computingsystem, or as an article of manufacture such as a computer programproduct or computer readable media. The computer program product may bea computer storage media readable by a computer system and encoding acomputer program of instructions for executing a computer process. Thecomputer program product may also be a propagated signal on a carrierreadable by a computing system and encoding a computer program ofinstructions for executing a computer process.

These and various other features, as well as advantages, whichcharacterize the present invention, will be apparent from a reading ofthe following detailed description and a review of the associateddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a computer system architecture diagram illustrating a computersystem utilized in and provided by the various embodiments of theinvention;

FIGS. 2A-2C and 3 are screen display diagrams illustrating severalscreen displays provided by the various embodiments of the invention;and

FIGS. 4-6 are flow diagrams illustrating various processes provided bythe several embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings, in which like numerals represent likeelements, various aspects of the present invention will be described. Inparticular, FIG. 1 and the corresponding discussion are intended toprovide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environmentin which embodiments of the invention may be implemented. While theinvention will be described in the general context of program modulesthat execute in conjunction with program modules that run on anoperating system on a personal computer, those skilled in the art willrecognize that the invention may also be implemented in combination withother types of computer systems and program modules.

Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, datastructures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled inthe art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with othercomputer system configurations, including hand-held devices,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Theinvention may also be practiced in distributed computing environmentswhere tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linkedthrough a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotememory storage devices.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an illustrative computer architecture for acomputer 2 utilized in the various embodiments of the invention will bedescribed. The computer architecture shown in FIG. 1 illustrates aconventional desktop or laptop computer, including a central processingunit 5 (“CPU”), a system memory 7, including a random access memory 9(“RAM”) and a read-only memory (“ROM”) 11, and a system bus 12 thatcouples the memory to the CPU 5. A basic input/output system containingthe basic routines that help to transfer information between elementswithin the computer, such as during startup, is stored in the ROM 11.The computer 2 further includes a mass storage device 14 for storing anoperating system 16, application programs, and other program modules,which will be described in greater detail below.

The mass storage device 14 is connected to the CPU 5 through a massstorage controller (not shown) connected to the bus 12. The mass storagedevice 14 and its associated computer-readable media providenon-volatile storage for the computer 2. Although the description ofcomputer-readable media contained herein refers to a mass storagedevice, such as a hard disk or CD-ROM drive, it should be appreciated bythose skilled in the art that computer-readable media can be anyavailable media that can be accessed by the computer 2.

By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media maycomprise computer storage media and communication media. Computerstorage media includes volatile and non-volatile, removable andnon-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storageof information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but isnot limited to, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other solidstate memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (“DVD”), orother optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which canbe used to store the desired information and which can be accessed bythe computer 2.

According to various embodiments of the invention, the computer 2 mayoperate in a networked environment using logical connections to remotecomputers through a network 18, such as the Internet. The computer 2 mayconnect to the network 18 through a network interface unit 20 connectedto the bus 12. It should be appreciated that the network interface unit20 may also be utilized to connect to other types of networks and remotecomputer systems. The computer 2 may also include an input/outputcontroller 22 for receiving and processing input from a number of otherdevices, including a keyboard, mouse, or electronic stylus (not shown inFIG. 1). Similarly, an input/output controller 22 may provide output toa display screen, a printer, or other type of output device.

As mentioned briefly above, a number of program modules and data filesmay be stored in the mass storage device 14 and RAM 9 of the computer 2,including an operating system 16 suitable for controlling the operationof a networked personal computer, such as the WINDOWS XP operatingsystem from MICROSOFT CORPORATION of Redmond, Wash. The mass storagedevice 14 and RAM 9 may also store one or more program modules. Inparticular, the mass storage device 14 and RAM 9 may store an e-mailclient application 24. The e-mail client application 24 is operative tosend and receive e-mail messages 26 over the network 18. The e-mailmessages sent or received may also include attachments 28. Theattachments may comprises any file type, and commonly include pictures,word processing documents, compressed files, and other types of files.

As will be described in greater detail herein, the e-mail clientapplication 24 is operative to provide a user interface for navigatingbetween e-mail message attachments. The embodiments of the invention arealso operative to display a preview of a document attached to an e-mailmessage without requiring a user to switch to another applicationprogram. Details regarding the user interface and a process forgenerating the interface are provided below with respect to FIGS. 2A-2C,4, and 6. The e-mail client application 24 is also operative to identifyone or more actions that may be performed on a document attached to ane-mail message. User interface objects for performing the actions may bedisplayed to a user as a part of the preview user interface.

One of the actions provided by the e-mail client application 24comprises an action for quickly generating an e-mail message in reply toan e-mail message having an attachment. The reply e-mail messageincludes a changed version of the original attachment. In order toprovide this functionality, the e-mail client application 24 may launchan application program 30 capable of editing the original attachment.The user may then be permitted to edit the attachment and quicklytransmit the changed attachment as a reply to the original e-mailmessage. Additional details regarding an action for replying to ane-mail message with a changed attachment are provided below with respectto FIGS. 3 and 5.

According to embodiments of the invention, the e-mail client application24 comprises the OUTLOOK personal information manager applicationprogram from MICROSOFT CORPORATION. It should be appreciated, however,that the invention may be utilized with other application programscapable of sending and receiving e-mail messages provided by othermanufacturers. According to embodiments of the invention, theapplication 30 comprises a word processing application program, such asthe WORD word processing application program from MICROSOFT CORPORATION.It should be appreciated, however, that other types of applicationprograms and other word processing application programs from othermanufacturers may be utilized to embody the various aspects of thepresent invention.

In order to generate the preview of an attachment to an e-mail message,the e-mail client application 24 utilizes the services of a previewhandler 32. The preview handler 32 is responsible for locating andexecuting a previewer capable of generating a visual preview for theattachment. The previewer renders the preview into a window provided bythe e-mail client application 24. In this manner, the preview appears tohave been rendered by the e-mail client application program 24 eventhough it was rendered by a separate previewer. The operation of anillustrative preview handler is described in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/954,328 filed on Sep. 30, 2004 and entitled “Method, System,and Apparatus for Providing A Document Preview” which is expresslyincorporated herein by reference.

Referring now to FIG. 2A, an illustrative user interface provided by thevarious embodiments of the invention will be described. In particular,FIG. 2A shows a screen display 40 generated by the e-mail clientapplication 24. The screen display 40 comprises a user interface windowhaving a list pane 42 in which one or more e-mail messages 44A-44D areidentified. As shown in FIG. 2, the e-mail messages 44A-44D areidentified by displaying a portion of the e-mail header informationincluding the sender's name, the message subject, and the time themessage was sent. It should be appreciated that other information may bedisplayed to identify the e-mail messages 44A-44D in the list pane 42.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the e-mail message 44D includes three attacheddocuments 46A-46D. The attachments 46A-46C are indicated as beingattachments to the e-mail message 44D by a line extending from thee-mail message 44D to each of the attachments. Moreover, the attachments46A-46C are identified by an icon corresponding to the document type, bythe name of the each attachment, and by an indication of the size ofeach attachment. The indicator for the attachments 46A-46C are alsooffset from the indicator for the e-mail message 44D to indicate thechild/parent relationship. Other types of information may also bedisplayed for each attachment. A paperclip icon is also displayed inconjunction with the e-mail message 44D to indicate that attachments arepresent but any type of icon or visual indicator may be utilized.

It should be appreciated that, according to one embodiment of theinvention, the indicators for each of the attachments 46A-46C are onlydisplayed in response to the selection of the message 44D. When anothermessage is selected, the indicators for the attachments 46A-46C areremoved. If the newly selected message has attachments, then theidentifiers for those attachments are displayed. If the newly selectedmessage does not have attachments then no identifiers are displayed.

According to other aspects of the invention, a user may select one ofthe attachments 46A-46C utilizing an appropriate user input device. Forinstance, a single mouse click may be made upon the attachment 46A toselect the attachment. In response to such a selection, a preview 50will be generated of the attachment and displayed in the reading pane48. The reading pane 48 is displayed adjacent to the list pane 42. Thereading pane 48 may also include other information regarding theattachment 46A such as the name of the attachment and the size of theattachment. Information particular to a type of attachment may also bedisplayed such as the number of pixels in an attached picture. If theuser selects another of the attachments 46A-46C, a preview for theselected attachment will be generated and displayed in the reading pane48.

According to aspects of the invention, the e-mail client application 24may also be operative to identify one or more actions that can beperformed upon an attachment and to display the available actions inconjunction with the preview 50. For instance, as shown in FIG. 2A, anumber of actions 52A-52D have been identified for the attachment 46A.In particular, the action 52A allows the attachment to be saved to themass storage device 14, the action 52B causes a slide show to begenerated and displayed for the attachments 46A-46C, the action 52Ccauses the previewed attachment 46A to be printed, and the action 52Dcauses the attachment 52D to be deleted.

It should be appreciated that many different types of actions may beidentified for each file type. For instance, a slide show action may bemade available for pictures and presentation documents, actions may bemade available for accepting or declining attached meeting requests,attached contact files may be added to a contacts list in a personalinformation manager, playback controls may be displayed for audio files,and actions may be provided for displaying attached facsimile documents.Other actions may also be displayed that are appropriate for all filetypes, such as opening, saving, deleting, and printing. In oneembodiment, only the actions specific to a particular file type aredisplayed adjacent to the preview 50. Other actions common to all filetypes may be displayed in a tool bar 54. When multiple attachments areselected, the header and the preview shown may be for the firstattachment. Only the actions that are available for all of the selectedattachments will be displayed in proximity to the preview 50.

According to other aspects of the invention, a user may provide arequest to open one of the e-mail messages 44A-44D for viewing. Forinstance, a user may utilize a mouse input device to “double click” oneof the messages 44A-44D. In response to such a request, a screen display70 such as that shown in FIG. 2B may be displayed. As shown in FIG. 2B,the screen display 70 includes a body area 72 where the contents of theselected e-mail message are displayed. The screen display 70 alsoincludes a user interface 75 for navigating between the attachments tothe selected e-mail message.

The user interface 75 includes an identifier 76 for the selected e-mailmessage and one or more identifiers 78A-78C for each of the attachmentsto the selected e-mail message. In an embodiment, the identifiers78A-78C include an icon that identifies the type of the attachment andthe name of the attachment. Other types of information may also beprovided. As shown in FIG. 2B, the identifiers 76 and 78A-78C aredisplayed in a manner to clearly indicate that the attachments areassociated with the selected e-mail message. In particular, a line isdisplayed to indicate the hierarchical relationship between the selectedmessage and its attachments. Other types of user interfaces may beprovided to illustrate this relationship to the user.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the indicators 76 and78A-78C may be selected by a user. If the indicator 76 is selected, thecontents of the e-mail message are displayed in the body area 72. If oneof the indicators 78A-78C are selected, a preview is generated for theattachment corresponding to the selected indicator and the preview isdisplayed in the body area 72. According to another embodiment, thecontents of the selected e-mail message may be continually displayed andthe preview for a selected attachment may be simultaneously displayed ina separate preview areas 74. In this manner, both the body of theselected e-mail message and a preview of a selected attachment may beviewed simultaneously.

Referring now to FIG. 2C, additional aspects of the various embodimentsof the invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 2C, the messagesidentified in the list pane 42 may be displayed in a conversation view.The conversation view sorts the messages according to their sent andreceived order and indents each of the messages. In the conversationview, the indicators 46D and 46E for attachments to a particular e-mailmessage 44E may be displayed in the manner described above. Inparticular, the identifiers 46D and 46E may include an icon indicatingthe type of attachment and the name of the attachment. Moreover, thehierarchy between one of the messages 44E in the conversation view andits attachments may be indicated through the display of a line betweenthe message 44E and the identifiers 46D and 46E without interfering withthe conversation view.

Referring now to FIG. 3, another illustrative user interface provided bythe various embodiments of the invention will be described. Inparticular, FIG. 3 shows a screen display 60 generated by a wordprocessing application utilized in conjunction with the variousembodiments of the present invention. As described above, according toembodiments of the invention, an action may be provided for certaintypes of attached documents that allows a user to quickly edit theattachment and transmit a reply e-mail that includes the changeddocument as an attachment. In response to the selection of such anaction, the word processing application program is launched for editingwith the attached document. The screen display 60 shown in FIG. 3illustrates the screen display shown by the word processing applicationonce it has been launched in this manner.

As shown in FIG. 3, the word processing application program provides theconventional tools for editing the document 28. “Reply with changes”button 62 is also displayed in conjunction with the user interface forediting the document 28. Selection of the button 62 causes a replymessage to be generated with the e-mail fields populated and thedocument 28 attached. The user may then edit the contents of the replymessage and send the message. By integrating the e-mail clientapplication 24 and the word processing application in this manner, auser is freed from the tedious process for editing documents attached toe-mail messages required by previous e-mail client applications.

It should be appreciated that although the embodiment of the inventiondescribed herein is presented in the context of a word processingapplication program, other types of applications program may also beused similarly. For instance, if an e-mail message includes apresentation document as an attachment, a presentation program may belaunched in response to a request to transmit a reply message includinga modified attachment. Any other type of document may be edited andtransmitted in a similar manner.

Referring now to FIG. 4, an illustrative routine 400 will be describedillustrating a process performed by the e-mail client application 24 forpreviewing and performing actions on attachments to e-mail messages. Itshould be appreciated that although the embodiments of the inventiondescribed herein are presented in the context of an e-mail clientapplication program 24, the invention may be utilized in other types ofapplication programs.

When reading the discussion of the routines presented herein, it shouldbe appreciated that the logical operations of various embodiments of thepresent invention are implemented (1) as a sequence of computerimplemented acts or program modules running on a computing system and/or(2) as interconnected machine logic circuits or circuit modules withinthe computing system. The implementation is a matter of choice dependenton the performance requirements of the computing system implementing theinvention. Accordingly, the logical operations illustrated in FIGS. 4-5,and making up the embodiments of the present invention described hereinare referred to variously as operations, structural devices, acts ormodules. It will be recognized by one skilled in the art that theseoperations, structural devices, acts and modules may be implemented insoftware, in firmware, in special purpose digital logic, and anycombination thereof without deviating from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention as recited within the claims set forth herein.

The routine 400 begins at operation 402, where the e-mail clientapplication 24 displays e-mail messages in the list pane 42. The routine400 then continues to operation 404, where the documents attached to thee-mail messages shown in the list pane are also displayed. Theattachments may be displayed in the manner described above with respectto FIG. 2. From operation 404, the routine 400 continues to operation406.

At operation 406, the e-mail client application 24 receives the userselection of an attachment to an e-mail message. In response to theselection, the e-mail client application 24 instructs the previewhandler 32 to identify a previewer for the attachment and to generate apreview of the attachment. The generated preview is then displayed bythe e-mail client application 24 in the reading pane 48 at operation408. From operation 408, the routine 400 continues to operation 410.

At operation 410, the e-mail client application 24 identifies theactions that may be performed on the attachment. User interface objects,such as buttons, are then displayed for the identified actions adjacentto the preview 50. This occurs at operation 412. From operation 412, theroutine 400 continues to operation 414, where a request is received fromthe user to perform one of the displayed actions. The request may bemade, for instance, through a selection of one of the displayed userinterface objects. The routine 400 then continues to operation 416,where the requested operation is performed. From operation 416, theroutine 400 continues to operation 418, where it ends.

Turning now to FIG. 5, an illustrative routine 500 will be described forperforming an action for replying to an e-mail message with changes toan attached document. The routine 500 begins at operation 502, where ane-mail message having an attachment is received by the e-mail clientapplication 24. From operation 502, the routine 500 continues tooperation 504, where a request is receive to reply to the originale-mail with changes to the attached document. This request may be made,for instance, through a user selection of one of the actions associatedwith a preview. From operation 504, the routine 500 continues tooperation 506.

At operation 506, the e-mail client application 24 launches anapplication program associated with the attachment. For instance, if theattachment comprises a word processing document, the e-mail clientapplication 24 may launch a word processing application for editing thedocument. The application program may also be launched in a statespecifically designated for reviewing and modifying documents. Such astate is commonly referred to as a “review” mode and providesfunctionality for making document modifications in a manner that allowsthe modifications to be easily identified and read by another user.

As described briefly above, the application program may also be launchedin a manner to cause the “reply with changes” button 62 to be displayedin conjunction with the editing screen. This occurs at operation 506 andallows a user to easily and quickly transmit the changed document as areply to the original e-mail message. From operation 508, the routine500 continues to operation 508, where changes to the attached documentare received from the user. The routine 500 then continues to operation510, where a request is received from the user to transmit the replye-mail message including the changed document through the selection ofthe button 62.

In response to receiving the request to transmit the reply e-mailincluding the changed document, the routine 500 continues to operation512 where a reply message is created with the changed document attached.The user can then add comments. If the user indicates the message shouldbe sent, the routine continues to operation 516, where the e-mail clientapplication transmits the reply e-mail with the changed documentattached. The application program is closed and the user is returned tothe display provided by the e-mail client application 24. The user maythen preview other documents and interact with the e-mail clientapplication 24 in the manner described herein. From operation 514, theroutine 500 continues to operation 518, where it ends.

Referring now to FIG. 6, an illustrative routine 600 will be describedfor navigating between attachments to an e-mail message in a view whichshows the contents of the e-mail message, such as that described abovewith respect to FIG. 2B. The routine 600 begins a operation 602, where arequest is received from a user to open the contents of an e-mailmessage for viewing. In particular, such a request may comprises adouble mouse click on an e-mail message or an equivalent keystroke. Fromoperation 602, the routine 600 continues to operation 604.

At operation 604, a screen display similar to that shown in FIG. 2B maybe displayed for the selected message. As described above, the screendisplay includes the display of the contents of the selected e-mailmessage. From operation 604, the routine 600 continues to operation 606,where the user interface 75 for navigating among attachments to theopened e-mail message is displayed. If a user selects an identifier foran attachment within the user interface 75 at operation 608, a previewis generated for the corresponding attachment. The preview is thendisplayed at operation 610. It should be appreciated that any of theattachments to an e-mail message may be previewed in this manner. Oncethe user has completed viewing the contents of the e-mail message andpreviews of the attachments, the user may close the screen display toreturn to the screen display shown in FIG. 2A. Accordingly, the routine600 ends at operation 612.

Based on the foregoing, it should be appreciated that the variousembodiments of the invention include a method, system, apparatus, andcomputer-readable medium for navigating and previewing attachments toelectronic mail messages. The above specification, examples and dataprovide a complete description of the manufacture and use of thecomposition of the invention. Since many embodiments of the inventioncan be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.

We claim:
 1. A method for navigating between one or more attachments toone or more electronic mail messages, the method comprising: displayinga user interface for an electronic mail application on a computingdevice, the user interface for the electronic mail application having alist pane for navigating among and selecting electronic mail messagesand a reading pane for displaying previews of the electronic mailmessages and attachments to the electronic mail messages; displaying aconversation view of the electronic mail messages in the list pane, theconversation view in the list pane representing the electronic mailmessages as email conversations; in response to selection of an emailconversation in the list pane, displaying sender identifiers ofelectronic mail messages associated with the selected emailconversation, the sender identifiers displayed in the list pane at anindentation level indicating association of the electronic mail messageswith the selected email conversation; receiving a selection of a senderidentifier of an electronic mail message associated with the selectedemail conversation, the electronic mail message associated with theselected email conversation having an attachment; displaying a previewof the electronic mail message associated with the selected emailconversation in the reading pane; and displaying a selectable identifierin the list pane for the attachment of the electronic mail messageassociated with the selected email conversation, the selectableidentifier in the list pane for the attachment configured to display apreview of the attachment in the reading pane that replaces the previewof the electronic mail message associated with the selected emailconversation without switching context of the electronic mailapplication.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving aselection of the selectable identifier in the list pane for theattachment of the electronic mail message associated with the selectedemail conversation; and displaying a preview of the attachment in thereading pane that replaces the preview of the electronic mail messageassociated with the selected email conversation.
 3. The method of claim2, further comprising: receiving a selection of a second selectableidentifier in the list pane for a second attachment of the electronicmail message associated with the selected email conversation; anddisplaying a preview of the second attachment in the reading pane. 4.The method of claim 3, wherein the preview of the second attachment inthe reading pane replaces a previously displayed preview.
 5. The methodof claim 2, further comprising: receiving a selection of a differentelectronic mail message associated with the selected email conversation;and displaying a preview of the different electronic mail messageassociated with the selected email conversation in the reading pane thatreplaces the preview of the attachment.
 6. The method of claim 5,further comprising: removing previously displayed selectable identifiersfrom the list pane in response to the selection of the differentelectronic mail message associated with the selected email conversation.7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a request toopen the electronic mail message associated with the selected emailconversation; displaying contents of the electronic mail messageassociated with the selected email conversation for viewing as an openedelectronic mail message; and displaying a different selectableidentifier for the attachment in the opened electronic mail message, thedifferent selectable identifier for the attachment configured to displaya preview of the attachment that replaces the contents of the electronicmail message associated with the selected email conversation in theopened electronic mail message.
 8. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising: receiving a selection of the different selectable identifierfor the attachment displayed in the opened electronic mail message; anddisplaying a preview of the attachment in the opened electronic mailmessage that replaces the contents of the electronic mail messageassociated with the selected email conversation.
 9. The method of claim1, further comprising: displaying a different selectable identifier forthe attachment in the reading pane while the preview of the electronicmail message associated with the selected email conversation isdisplayed in the reading pane; and in response to selection of thedifferent selectable identifier for the attachment displayed in thereading pane, displaying a preview of the attachment in the reading panethat replaces the preview of the electronic mail message associated withthe selected email conversation.
 10. A computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, whenexecuted by a computer, will cause the computer to: display a userinterface for an electronic mail application on a computing device, theuser interface for the electronic mail application having a list panefor navigating among and selecting electronic mail messages and areading pane for displaying previews of the electronic mail messages andattachments to the electronic mail messages; display a conversation viewof the electronic mail messages in the list pane, the conversation viewin the list pane representing the electronic mail messages as emailconversations; in response to selection of an email conversation in thelist pane, display sender identifiers of electronic mail messagesassociated with the selected email conversation, the sender identifiersdisplayed in the list pane at an indentation level indicatingassociation of the electronic mail messages with the selected emailconversation; receive a selection of a sender identifier of anelectronic mail message associated with the selected email conversation,the electronic mail message associated with the selected emailconversation having an attachment; display a preview of the electronicmail message associated with the selected email conversation in thereading pane; and display a selectable identifier in the list pane forthe attachment of the electronic mail message associated with theselected email conversation, the selectable identifier in the list panefor the attachment configured to display a preview of the attachment inthe reading pane that replaces the preview of the electronic mailmessage associated with the selected email conversation withoutswitching context of the electronic mail application.
 11. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 10, having furthercomputer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed bythe computer, will cause the computer to: receive a selection of theselectable identifier in the list pane for the attachment of theelectronic mail message associated with the selected email conversation;and display a preview of the attachment in the reading pane thatreplaces the preview of the electronic mail message associated with theselected email conversation.
 12. The computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 11, having further computer-executable instructions stored thereonwhich, when executed by the computer, will cause the computer to:receive a selection of a second selectable identifier in the list panefor a second attachment of the electronic mail message associated withthe selected email conversation; and display a preview of the secondattachment in the reading pane.
 13. The computer-readable storage mediumof claim 12, wherein the preview of the second attachment in the readingpane replaces a previously displayed preview.
 14. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 11, having further computer-executableinstructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, willcause the computer to: receive a selection of a different electronicmail message associated with the selected email conversation; anddisplay a preview of the different electronic mail message associatedwith the selected email conversation in the reading pane that replacesthe preview of the attachment.
 15. The computer-readable storage mediumof claim 14, having further computer-executable instructions storedthereon which, when executed by a computer, will cause the computer to:remove previously displayed selectable identifiers from the list pane inresponse to the selection of the different electronic mail messageassociated with the selected email conversation.
 16. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 10, having furthercomputer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed bya computer, will cause the computer to: receive a request to open theelectronic mail message associated with the selected email conversation;display contents of the electronic mail message associated with theselected email conversation for viewing as an opened electronic mailmessage; and display a different selectable identifier for theattachment in the opened electronic mail message, the differentselectable identifier for the attachment configured to display a previewof the attachment that replaces the contents of the electronic mailmessage associated with the selected email conversation in the openedelectronic mail message.
 17. The computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 16, having further computer-executable instructions stored thereonwhich, when executed by a computer, will cause the computer to: receivea selection of the different selectable identifier for the attachmentdisplayed in the opened electronic mail message; and display a previewof the attachment in the opened electronic mail message that replacesthe contents of the electronic mail message associated with the selectedemail conversation.
 18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim17, having further computer-executable instructions stored thereonwhich, when executed by a computer, will cause the computer to:displaying a different selectable identifier for the attachment in thereading pane while the preview of the electronic mail message associatedwith the selected email conversation is displayed in the reading pane;and in response to selection of the different selectable identifier forthe attachment displayed in the reading pane, display a preview of theattachment in the reading pane that replaces the preview of theelectronic mail message associated with the selected email conversation.19. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executableinstructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, willcause the computer to: display a user interface for an electronic mailapplication, the user interface comprising a list pane for navigatingamong and selecting electronic mail messages and a reading pane fordisplaying previews of the electronic mail messages and attachments tothe electronic mail messages; display an email conversation in the listpane, the email conversation associated with multiple electronic mailmessages; in response to selection of the email conversation in the listpane, display sender identifiers in the list pane for the multipleelectronic mail messages of the email conversation, the senderidentifiers for the multiple electronic mail messages displayed in thelist pane at an indentation level indicating association of the multipleelectronic mail messages with the email conversation; and in response toselection of an electronic mail message of the email conversation havingmultiple attachments, display selectable identifiers in the list panefor the multiple attachments of the electronic mail message of the emailconversation, the selectable identifiers for the multiple attachmentsdisplayed in the list pane at an indentation level indicatingassociation of the multiple attachments with the electronic mail messageof the email conversation, the selectable identifiers for the multipleattachments configured to display previews of the multiple attachmentsof the electronic mail message of the email conversation in the readingpane without switching context of the electronic mail application. 20.The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, having furthercomputer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed bythe computer, will cause the computer to: display a preview of theelectronic mail message of the email conversation in the reading pane;and display different selectable identifiers for the multipleattachments in the reading pane which are configured to display previewsof the multiple attachments of the electronic mail message of the emailconversation in the reading pane.